Once again, voting and attendance records from this year demonstrate that as long as the legislative session is kept close to the 100 days prescribed by legislative rules, lawmakers’ participation remains high.

The most remarkable thing about Republican leaders’ decision to explore a budget compromise with the minority party this year is that it happened at all — much less that the two sides came within a hair’s breadth of striking what would have been a rare bargain.

Democrats aren’t exactly viewing Gov. Jan Brewer as the second coming of Janet Napolitano, but they’re taking solace that her vetoes included bills that they viewed as some of the most onerous of the 2012 session.

Senate President Steve Pierce, a rancher from Prescott, has a habit of walking into difficult situations.



He did it once three years ago, when he became the de facto majority whip, and he did it again last year, when he vied for the position and became Senate president after Russell Pearce was ousted in a special recall election in November.

Andy Tobin was elected speaker of the House just days after Kirk Adams’ resigned to run for Congress at the end of the 2011 legislative session.



While his seven or so months as speaker during the interim could hardly prepare him for the rigors of leading a chamber during a regular session, it’s clear that he learned some lessons for the task ahead. As is often the case, some of those lessons were learned the hard way.

During the two sessions of the 50th Legislature, members of the press increasingly had to think twice about where they were and were not allowed to go.

A phantom of sorts lurked in the Senate last session.



Divas weren’t held captive in a cellar. Chandeliers weren’t damaged. But ousted Senate President Russell Pearce’s presence was felt in the chamber that he once ran.

The race is on to woo voters for a slate of ballot measures passed by the 50th Legislature on property taxes, government financing, trust land and states’ rights.



Some of the seven propositions on the November 2012 ballot have dry subjects that might be difficult to grasp, making it all the more important for backers to get organized and present a coherent message, said David Berman, a professor at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute of Public Policy.

The state turned 100 this year, but the unofficial “face” of Arizona’s House of Representatives is only turning 82. It’s warm, kind and famously smiling and it belongs atop the tiny frame of Zoe Spinner, a receptionist at the House information desk and recently retired 25-year veteran of the state Capitol.